The big news is the deal reached to extend the debt ceiling. That politicians reached a deal amongst themselves to extend the nation’s credit so they can borrow and spend more money should not come as a surprise, nor should the fact that the deal, being spun as…
Brian Garst
Brian Garst is Vice President of the Center for Freedom and Prosperity.
He writes regularly on tax and free-market issues, and has been published by national and international outlets such as Offshore Investment, RealClearPolicy, Cayman Financial Review, China Offshore, Thomson Reuters Accelus, IFC Review, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, Human Events, and Townhall.
Government Jobs are to Die For
The federal government fires so few of it’s workers that bureaucrats at a number of agencies are more likely to die in office than get a pink slip: Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security at the…
Bossing People Around May Be ‘Fun’, but It’s Not Good Policy
New York Times columnist Mark Bittman is having a jolly good time contemplating ways to control other people. “It’s fun — inspiring, even — to think about implementing a program like this,” he declares. And what kind of program is he talking about? One…
Taking on FATCA and Proposed Section 911 Elimination
Sound tax policy is hard to find these days. As CF&P has extensively covered, Congress included the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act as part of the HIRE Act, passed in March 2010. FATCA takes a fundamentally wrong-headed approach to tax policy. Rather than…
Tax Haven Myths Return
Senator Carl Levin is revitalizing his crusade against so-called tax havens. In a press release yesterday, he announced the reintroduction of his Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act, while touting the support of labor lobby groups and advocates of big government. As the Center…
States Feel Tax Competition on Cigarettes
We fight to preserve tax competition among nations, but the principle’s effects exist within the US among the states, as well. George Scoville writes about the likely outcomes of a decision by Vermont to raise their cigarette taxes by $0.38 while New Hampshire…
We Don’t Need an Investor-in-Chief
How was anything ever invented before government started “investing” in new technologies? One wonders these things, given the seriousness with which Keynesians seem to believe that if they don’t choose the economic winners and then throw large sums of money at them –…
The Other Corrupt DC Government
We spend a lot of time pointing out the asinine and corrupt federal policies which come out of Washington, DC. But there’s another government in DC, and it’s also filled with petty tyrants who make bad policy in order to benefit special interests. That the…
National Economic Suicide to Drive Out Capital
Richard Rahn writes in the Washington Times today on a pair of regulations which he describes as “national economic suicide.” At issue is the IRS’s proposed regulation that would require U.S. banks to report information on foreign account holders,…
States Show Tax Competition in Action
We often look at how tax competition affects nations, but the same concept applies to U.S. states as well. Two recent reports demonstrate what happens when politicians fail to understand just how tax competition works. In a report from the Maine Heritage Policy…